It’s up to U Now – message to delegates Climate Change Conference

With just three days left to the conference closes, Oxfam blitzed delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, with a special photographic exhibition and calendar called “It’s up to UNow”.

The photos, are messages from people in developing countries, who are already having to adapt and live with the impacts of climate change, as well as people from rich countries, who are taking personal action to reduce their contribution to climate change. Take a look at all of the photo messages on our Flickr profile.

Today, they are coming together to send a clear message to delegates at this conference, to do all they can to ensure that the interests of people living in poverty are put at the heart of any decisions and outcomes from Bali.

Quite simply, they are telling delegates “It’s up to UNow”.

We have given delegates a chance to show their support to Fight Climate Poverty, by having their photo taken, so it can be added to the exhibition. More updates on who took the challenge later.

Shahanara, from Bangladesh (pictured above) stood in flood water near the camp she has been staying at for five months since her house was destroyed in the floods in the village of Puteakhal. She said “I have raised my home and my husband is trying to work in the market. What else can we do. We have no option now”. Read more from Shahanara, and other stories and messages on our flickr pages.

The Graph of Climate Injustice

Oxfam’s “Bali blogger”, Karina Brisby reports back from the launch of the Graph of Injustice.

On the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, Oxfam unveiled a huge “Graph of Climate Injustice”, directly outside the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. You can see the highlights of the unveiling and presentation on YouTube.

Oxfam’s Senior Climate Change Researcher Kate Raworth, introduced the graph, outlined the significance of where the rich and high-polluting countries (known as Annex II) and the poorest countries (Least Developed Countries – LDCs) sat in relation to each other.

By plotting countries’ per capita carbon emissions against their incomes per capita, the graph showed that while rich countries are most responsible for causing climate change, it is the least responsible and poorest countries who are having to bear the worst impact. You can see the graph’s full detail in this PDF

Ministers and delegates from Uganda, Tuvalu, Bangladesh and the Maldives also joined us today, to talk about the experiences of their people struggling to adapt to climate change. And, while their countries are far apart geographically, the delegates had a similar story to tell: they are all having to adapt at a much faster and bigger scale than rich countries, but without the resources and technology needed.

Adaptation finance would help developing countries plan and cope with the impacts of climate change, for example by improving shelter, introducing drought resistant crops, changing farming techniques to ensure stable food supplies, planting trees and helping communities find new ways to earn incomes without depending on the land. These are just a few of then many things need to be done.

Developing country officials and Oxfam want to see a commitment from rich countries for adequate adaptation financing for all developing countries (Oxfam estimates this will cost at least $50 billion year) as one key of outcomes of this conference.

The Netherlands is one of the few rich countries which is actually honoring its obligations. Development Minister Bert Koenders urged the other rich countries to follow the Dutch lead by providing adaptation finance on top of their existing commitments to provide 0.7% of national income for meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

You can find out more about what Oxfam is demanding to be delivered on adaptation finance by reading our report

Watch a video from today’s unveiling.

Ugandan Minister for Environment unveils art from children about climate change.

The Ugandan Minister for Environment, Ms Maria Mutagamba, launched a collection of drawings that young people form Bangladesh, Malawi and Uganda, have created to express what Climate Change means to them.

The drawings were entered into a competition that Oxfam co-coordinated, so that young people in developing countries, could send a message to delegates in Bali, to think about their future, when making decisions at this conference

Ms Mutagamba was moved by the images and said that the children “ …. expressed themselves (through) images of floods and drought … they have lost hope and we must restore their hope in the global community.”

The drawings drew a big crowd at their unveiling, you can see the images in more detail on our Flickr profile and watch the video of the unveiling of the drawings below.

One of the drawings has gone off to a special meeting. More about that in our next few blogs.

Climate change hits the poorest hardest

Natural disasters have quadrupled over the last two decades, from an average of 120 a year in the early 1980s to as many as 500 today.

Our new report “Climate Alarm: Disasters increase as climate change bites ” looks at how poverty and powerlessness make people more vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate and outlines the need to mitigate, adapt, reduce risk and improve humanitarian systems.

Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International’s Executive Director said, “This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and in Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people. This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people. Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human development will go into reverse.”

Oxfam will be at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali next month, keeping pressure on governments to agree on a mandate to negotiate a global deal, that will assist developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change and to reduce green house gas emissions.

We will be updating this blog direct from the conference, so stay up to date with the latest news by subscribing to our blog feed, or visiting us everyday over the next few weeks.